


Kepler Says ‘Fuck Poseidon’

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drowning, M/M, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 22:59:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17631365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: “I didn’t even think of any witty last words!” Jacobi exclaimed as the water lapped greedily at his lips, “Or something that means something. Colonel, Warren I-“ then the water reached his mouth, and he couldn’t lift his chin any higher.





	Kepler Says ‘Fuck Poseidon’

Jacobi yanked uselessly at the pod door, cursing under his breath as the water rose past their waist, but Kepler knew it was no good.

“It won’t open until the pressure is equalized.” he said shortly, searching the inside of their pod for something, anything that could help their situation. But there was nothing.

“And that won’t happen until this pod is completely filled with water.” Jacobi finished irritably, finally giving up on the door with a sound of frustration, “Damn it! You know, next time you invite me on a mission in the middle of the Atlantic, remind me to say fuck no.”

“How was I supposed to know the submarine would sink?” Kepler replied rudely, “Or that we’d be trapped in a fucking escape pod that is rapidly filling with freezing cold water!”

“Because you’re Colonel Fucking Kepler and you know everything!” Jacobi snapped, “Always in control, huh Colonel? Can you bluff your way out of this one? Charm the ocean into letting us out?”

“Shut _up_ and let me think.” Kepler growled, casting around again. Jacobi kicked at a wall in frustration, and the movement dislodged something. Kepler picked it up, and he felt a spark of hope. A breathing helmet! But that hope rapidly dwindled when he realized that there was only one.

He could easily take the helmet and leave Jacobi to die. There was a boat on the surface waiting for them, he could just go. But before he’d even finished the thought he knew he could never do it no matter how smart it would be. No matter how the Kepler of two years ago would have done it without hesitation. Instead, he sighed and turned to Jacobi.

“Take this.” Kepler thrust the helmet at him. Jacobi took it warily, eying him with suspicion.

“Why?”

“Surely I don’t have to explain to you the purpose of a breathing helmet.” Kepler rolled his eyes, and Jacobi scowled.

“I _meant_ where’s yours?” Of course. Why had he ever hoped Jacobi would just do as he said without question, just once?

“There’s only one helmet.” he admitted quietly. Jacobi’s eyes widened, and he stared incredulously at him. There was a moment of silence where the only sounds were the groaning of the pod and the rush of water that now reached their chests, until Jacobi all but shoved the helmet into his gut.

“No.” he snarled, “Absolutely not, you’re not even _thinking_ about letting me take it.”

“Don’t argue with me, Jacobi.” he ordered, but Jacobi was indignant.

“We’ll take turns breathing from it!”

“It’s not designed for that, it won’t work, I already thought of that.”

“Then we find another helmet!”

“There _isn’t_ another helmet!” he snapped, and something in his tone must have told Jacobi that it was time to be quiet. They looked at each other at the water rose enough that they had to tread water, both of them finally realizing that one of them was most likely going to die. And Kepler would be damned if he let it be Jacobi. But before he could _order_ Jacobi to take the helmet, the man spoke up.

“I may have an idea.” Jacobi was pale, his lips beginning to look slightly blue from the cold, “But it’s gonna suck. A lot.”

“And what idea is that?” Kepler asked skeptically. Jacobi seemed to steel himself before speaking.

“You let me drown.” he said without a trace of jest, and Kepler would forever deny that his heart seized in his chest.

“ _Absolutely_ _not_!”

“ _Listen_ to me!” Emboldened with death so near, Jacobi grabbed his head and forced him to meet his gaze, “You let me drown when the water fills the pod. You open that door. You get us the hell out of here and swim back to the surface. You revive me if you can.”

“No.” Kepler said firmly, “That’s the most idiotic idea I’ve ever heard. Just standing back and watching you die is not an option.”

“You got a better one?” he asked with a huff, and Kepler cast wildly around for something, _anything_. But in his heart he knew Jacobi was right. The water was rising too fast, and they had no other option. Still, the thought of watching Jacobi drown while he sat and waited made him feel like physically ill.

“How about I drown and you do all the work instead? If I recall, you’re a stronger swimmer than I.” he snapped, stomach roiling. Jacobi gave a wan smile.

“I don’t know CPR.” he managed a shaky laugh, “Otherwise I’d happily take you up on that.”

“Fuck.” Kepler swore, “ _Fuck_.” The water was up to their chins now, and their heads were touching the ceiling. It wouldn’t be long now.

“Put the helmet on.” Jacobi said quietly, “While you still can.”

“Jacobi, this is _stupid_.” but what else could he do but obey? Jacobi was right. There were no other options. He pulled the helmet on with hands that couldn’t seem to stop shaking, and he told himself it was the cold, “Just know that if you don’t survive this, I will consider it a personal failure on your part.”

“Even if you fail to bring me back?” Jacobi asked, tilting his head up to avoid swallowing seawater, “Cold.”

“Your plan. You take the fall if it fails.” Kepler’s hands flexed at his sides. Useless. “Your death won’t be on my conscience.”

“Whatever, at least I’ll know you’ll have to train a new recruit.” Jacobi’s voice was a little breathless, and Kepler could tell he was afraid.  There was a watery sheen to his dark eyes that wasn’t from the sea.

“Are you crying?” Kepler asked softly, something in his chest aching at the sight. But Jacobi mistook his tone for judgement, and his lips twisted unhappily.

“I’m about to die, okay! It’s normal to be scared!” he squeezed his eyes shut, tilting his head further and taking deep breaths, “Fuck, I am so fucking scared right now.”

“I’m here.” he wanted to touch him, but forced his hands to stay still. If he touched him, he’d break and force Jacobi into the helmet, “I’m here, I’ll save you.”

“I didn’t even think of any witty last words!” Jacobi exclaimed as the water lapped greedily at his lips, “Or something that _means_ something. Colonel, Warren I-“ then the water reached his mouth, and he couldn’t lift his chin any higher. He sputtered and gasped, and then the water was over their heads. Jacobi started struggling almost immediately, instinct driving him, but there was nowhere to go. He clutched uselessly at his chest, his struggles slowly weakening as his lungs soon forced him to take a deep, fatal breath of water.

Forcing himself to look away from his dying subordinate, Kepler attacked the door, yanking and struggling and throwing all his weight against it. The damned thing was slow and cumbersome, but it was giving, slowly but surely. Kepler pushed at it with all his strength, yelling with exertion and adrenaline.

Behind him, Jacobi had stopped moving. He floated there silently, eyes closed and hair waving like fan coral on a shipwreck.

With a roar of desperate frustration, Kepler finally got the door to open. He grabbed Jacobi’s limp form and swam out, beelining it for the surface. He swam as fast as he could, heart pounding and an emotion he refused to identify as fear choking his throat. Jacobi was dead weight in his arms, head tilted back and face far more peaceful than it had any right to be.

Kepler had never felt such wild, cloying desperation in his entire life.

He broke the surface a few maddeningly long moments later with a gasp born more of instinct than necessity, pulling Jacobi closer and wasting precious seconds patting his cold cheek as if he’d miraculously wake up if he were no longer underwater. Gritting his teeth, he swam for the boat that was waiting for them, his subordinate heavy in his arms. Hands and frantic voices greeted him, hauling them onto the deck and pawing all over them in an attempt to help. Kepler damn near ripped someone’s arm off when they tried to take Jacobi from him.

“Out of my way, _out_ _of_ _my_ _way_!” he snarled, practically shoving a helper out of the way to lay Jacobi down on the deck. He yanked the helmet off and immediately started chest compressions, heart pounding and head spinning. But he couldn’t rest. Jacobi was counting on him to revive him. So he counted his compressions and grabbed his waxen face,  sealing their cold lips together and breathing into him, silently demanding he breathe on his own. Again and again he repeated the motions, even when the people around them began to look sad. Even when they began to step away.

Jacobi didn’t stir.

“No.” Kepler muttered feverishly, “ _No_! Don’t you _dare_ , Mister Jacobi! You’re not getting away that easily!”

“Colonel... it’s too late.” a soft voice next to him said, and Kepler lost it.

“No! No, dammit, you son of a bitch, wake up!” he grabbed Jacobi by the shoulders and shook him, eyes wild, “This was your idea! This was your fucking idea so come back and take responsibility for it!” He slapped him hard across the face. Once. Twice. On the third time a hand caught him around the wrist, and Kepler couldn’t even find it in him to kill them for it. All he could see was Jacobi. Jacobi’s blue lips and eyelids, Jacobi’s still hands, Jacobi’s ashen skin and slack face. Jacobi, Jacobi, _Jacobi_.

He shouted, all rage and pain and _failure_. He yanked his wrist out of their grasp and brought his fist down on Jacobi’s chest one last time, hard enough that he heard something crack. A rib, most likely, but Kepler didn’t care because at that moment Jacobi’s eyes flew open. He arched, letting out a strangled sound before coughing up enough seawater to fill the Dead Sea. Fighting the irrational compulsion to sob, Kepler turned him on his side to help the process, gripping his bicep and rubbing his back in a soothing motion he’d later deny. He felt dizzy again, but this time with relief.

“You. Are in. So. Much. Trouble.” he said lowly, his eyes never leaving Jacobi’s face as he moaned in pain, “I’m serious, Jacobi, you’ll regret this _idiotic_ plan for the rest of your life.”

“Worked, didn’t it?” His fucking musical voice was absolutely wrecked, and he coughed weakly. Kepler grit his teeth.

“Never. Do something like this. Again.” he growled, resisting the urge to thread his fingers in that sodden black hair and yank, “Are we clear?”

“Crystal.”

”You are so damned lucky I’m amazing at my job, or you’d be dead at the bottom of the sea.” Kepler growled, but Jacobi only coughed again.

”Knew you could do it, sir.” he said hoarsely, giving him the tiniest of smiles, and that was it. Kepler yanked him up and into his arms, pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. 

“Yes, well, I could have let you die.” he murmured into his hair, closing his eyes and just breathing him in, willing his racing heart to slow, “Easily. You’re lucky new recruits are so annoying to train.”

Jacobi only rasped out a laugh, shaking hands clutching weakly at his jacket.

—-

Jacobi lay on the couch, sleeping fitfully in the veritable cocoon of blankets he’d been burritoed in by the overbearing crew. He was still pale, still weak, but beautifully, miraculously _alive_. Even with the broken rib Kepler had given him, he was going to be okay.

Maxwell was going to kill them both. And Kepler wouldn’t hesitate in tattling to her that the whole thing had been Jacobi’s idea. But for now, he sat by Jacobi’s side. Keeping vigil, just in case. He told himself he was protecting Jacobi from the mother hens that made up the retrieval crew, but even he knew it was an excuse. He was here because he’d had a revelation today, and was struggling to accept it.

At some point, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly when, Jacobi had become important to him. Kepler had started to care about him despite knowing the dangers that came with it. Caring made you weak. Caring made you and the object of that care a target. Caring made you completely lose your shit in front of an entire boat crew and scream at a dead body.

Jacobi shifted, his breath hitching slightly, and Kepler smoothed his hand over his forehead without thinking, taking comfort in the way the man completely relaxed under his touch. His touch, and only his. Because Daniel Jacobi belonged to him and no one would ever take him away from him. Not even Poseidon himself.

“This will never happen again.” he said quietly, stroking Jacobi’s hair exactly once before forcing himself to pull away, “If you ever make me watch you die again, I will make your afterlife a hell so horrible you’ll beg for the sea to take you.” Jacobi didn’t answer, merely breathing softly in and out.

Kepler kept vigil until they reached the shore, watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by that scene in the movie The Abyss by James Cameron! It was such a cool concept, I had to. Also written without a beta at four am so apologies for any mediocrity. Comment and let me know how you liked it!


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